The transporting of charged particles in an electric field (migration) plays an important part in numerous methods of molecular biology. The migration velocity v of the charged particles in the liquid medium is in this case proportional to the field strength E and the ion charge Q and inversely proportional to the particle radius r and the viscosity η of the suspension. The following results for the velocity v:v=QE/6πrη  (1)
During electrophoresis, by way of example, biomolecules, i.e primarily proteins and DNA, which differ with regard to their size and/or charge are separated from one another. The presence of other mobile charged particles is to be avoided in certain forms of electrophoretic separation (e.g. isoelectric focusing) since otherwise the charge transport is undertaken partly or wholly by these particles and not by the molecules to be separated. Therefore, amino acids that have their isoelectric point at the desired pH value are often used as a buffer. That is to say that, at the pH value set, the buffer molecules themselves have no net charge and are therefore not subject to migration.
Electric fields are also used in the transporting of charged molecules, e.g. in order to increase or to decrease the concentration at a specific location. Particularly in the case of microsensors, e.g. for DNA analysis, it is possible to increase the sensitivity if the DNA fragments (target molecules) to be detected are concentrated at the location of the capture molecules (sensor surface). The number of capture/target molecule bonds thus increases in accordance with the law of mass action. In any event, however, during such a reaction not only are capture/target molecule pairs formed which match one another exactly but also those whose sequence do not correspond to one another exactly at some sites (mismatches).
Since the magnitude of the binding energy decreases with the number of non-corresponding bases, those bonds which have a specific number of mismatches can be separated again selectively by the application of appropriate forces (stringency treatment). As force, it is possible here for an electric field to take effect which has an opposite polarity in contrast to the first process, the concentration of the molecules.
A prerequisite for transporting charged particles in the electric field is a field gradient that has a strictly monotonic profile within the electrolyte or the transport path. That is to say that the field gradient must not change its sign and must not become zero. The application of an arbitrary voltage is not necessarily sufficient for this purpose for aqueous systems.
In the absence of a chemical reaction before the electrodes, the voltage drops across the electrochemical double layer and the field gradient between the electrodes becomes zero. However, if a reduction or oxidation reaction takes place at the electrodes, the double layer before the electrodes is depolarized and the electric field has a strictly monotonic profile within the electrolyte. Ion transport in the aqueous electrolyte is the consequence.
A method that is frequently employed for generating such electric fields in aqueous systems is application of the decomposition voltage of water. In this case, oxygen is evolved at the anode and hydrogen at the cathode. In the experimental implementation, care must be taken to ensure that the gases, and in particular their free radical precursors do not come into contact with the molecules to be examined, since the latter would otherwise be altered chemically. In macroscopic systems, this is done by separating the electrolyte spaces directly before the electrodes from the electrolyte space between the electrodes, e.g. by means of diaphragms. This solution is problematic for microsensors since diaphragms are not practicable.
One possibility for electrophoresis in microsystems resides in introducing so-called permeation layers made of hydrophilic polymer before the electrodes, in respect of which reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,662 A. The mobility of reaction products of the electrolysis of water and the DNA to be transported is severely inhibited in this layer, so that an intermixing virtually does not take place. The charge transport in the permeation layer is undertaken by smaller ions.
Although the known method is practicable, the introduction of new polymer layers makes the production of the microsensor chip significantly more complicated and thus more expensive.